Transportable manual wiring stand



March 15, 1966 c. H. scHAEr-'FER TRANSPORTABLE MANUAL WIRING STAND Filed June 12,' 1964 FlG l FIGZ United States Patent O 3,240,458 TRANSPORTABLE MANUAL WIRING STAND Charles H. Schaeer, 3144 Ringer Road, Mehlville, Mo. Filed June 12, 1964, Ser. No. 374,749 8 Claims. (Cl. 248-129) This invention relates to a stand by which the manipulation of a plurality of wires, especially in their installation in conduit, can be facilitated.

It has been common practice heretofore to carry from place to place in the course of the construction of buildings, and commercial buildings in particular, a number of different boxes containing coiled electrical wire. These boxes are set on the floor, and one wire from each box is pulled up from the center of the coil through a hole in the top of the box to form a bundle, and the bundle of wires is fed into a conduit. This method has numerous disadvantages. It is awkward and time-consuming to carry around the boxes of wire. It is inconvenient and frequently becomes annoying, to try to get the wires to feed out of the various boxes arrayed around the floor without snarling the wires or dropping a strand. The floor is frequently wet or dirty. It is often necessary to gather the wires together, find a place among the boxes for a stepladder, and to climb up the ladder holding a tent of wires from scattered boxes on the oor.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a stand which will hold a plurality of coils of wires, ordinarily in the boxes in which the coils come, in such a way that floor space is conserved, the coils are up off of the floor, the coils are readily transported, and individual strands are guided to a substantially parallel bundle which is easily controlled.

Another object is to provide such a stand with steps mounted on the frame of the stand in such a position that the guided wires can readily be manipulated by someone standing on the steps, and facing the guide means.

Still another object of this invention is to provide such a wiring stand which may be utilized in either a vertical or horizontal position, with equal eflicacy as far as the stand is concerned.

Other objects will become appartent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawing.

In accordance with this invention, generally stated, a transportable manual wiring stand is provided which includes a supporting frame, a plurality of wire coil-holding racks axially spaced along the frame with respect to one another, means for preventing axial displacement of coils of wire from the racks, and a gathering ring mounted on the frame in axially spaced relation to the rack adjacent the ring.

In the preferred embodiment, wheels are mounted on one side of the frame, and steps are mounted on the opposite side of the frame, with the racks and guide ring between them. The racks are sloped with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the wheels, so that the stand can be rotated to a horizontal position about the axis of rotation of the wheels, without dislodging the coils.

The rack-s are preferably arranged in ranks symmetrically about theplane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the wheels. The ranks, at least above the bottom racks, are spaced laterally sufficiently far to permit strands of wire from the lower racks to pass freely to the gathering ring.

Preferably, a handle is mounted on the frame on the side of the frame on which the wheels are mounted, to serve not only as a means for pushing or pulling the wheeled stand, but as a stop by which the stand is held in a desired horizontal position. Stop means are provided 3,240,458 Patented Mar. 15, 1966 ICC on the side of the frame opposite the wheels, for preventing unwanted movement of the stand in its vertical position.

In the drawing, FIGURE 1 is a view in front elevation of an illustrative embodiment of transportable manual wiring stand of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view in side elevation of the stand of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan View of the stand shown in FIGURES 1 and 2;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional View taken along the line 4 4 of FIGURE l; and

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5 5 of FIGURE 4.

Referring now to the drawing for an illustrative embodiment of stand of this invention, reference numeral 1 indicates a completed stand, which includes a tubular frame 2, wheels 3, a handle 4, racks 5, a gathering ring 6, stop means '7 and steps 8.

The tubular frame 2 in this embodiment has an inverted U-shaped back 21 with legs 22, between which cross braces 23 extend. The lower section of each of the legs 22 is bent forwardly to form spaced parallel bottom rails 24, and the outer sections of the bottom rails 24 are bent upwardly and reentrantly to form side bars 25, and then toward and into butted engagement with one another, and welded together to form a handhold 26. An inverted L-shaped tube is welded at its foot end to each leg 21, at its bend, to a side bar 25 and at its stem end to a bottom rail 24, to provide a top rail 27 and a post 28 at each side of the frame. Forward cross braces 29 extend between and are welded to the posts 28.

Extending between and welded to the top rails 27, are gathering ring supports 60. The gathering ring 6 is securel to the supports 60 at the transverse center of the stan At the lower end of each of the legs 22, is a T-shaped reinforcing and mounting bracket 30, the cross member of which is welded to the leg, and the stem of which extends substantially perpendicularly to the legs. The stem has an axle-receiving hole 31, through which an axle 32 extends, connecting the two brackets 30, and projecting beyond the brackets so that the wheels 3 can be and are mounted on the two ends of the axle 32.

The stop member 7 is secured to the underside of the outer end of each of the bottom rails 24. The steps 8 are secured between the side bars 25. In the embodiment shown, the steps 8 are welded to cross-rungs 81, welded, in turn to the side bars 25.

The racks 5 of this embodiment consist of two side walls 50, a lower end 51, top flanges 52 extending inwardly from the lower edges of said walls 5l) and of the the lower end 51, and bottom anges 54 extending inwardly from the lower edges of said walls 50 and of the lower end 51.

The racks 5 are all sloped downwardly inboardly with rspect to a plane perpendicular to the axle 32, so that when the stand is in its upright position, coils in the racks are gravity biased toward the lower end 51. At the same time, when the stand is rotated about the axle 32 until the handle 4 rests on the ground, the coils are not biased outwardly, but rest against a side wall 50.

The racks 5 are arranged in two ranks, symmetrically about the central plane perpendicular to the axle 32. As can be seen best from FIGURES l and 5, the bottom two racks are closely adjacent and may touch, but successively higher pairs of racks are spaced laterally widely enough to accommodate strands of wire from the lower racks, as shown particularly in FIGURE 5. The racks are welded or otherwise secured to and between the post 28 and the leg 22 on each side.

In use, boxes containing coils of Wire are slid into the racks, with the opening in the box directed upwardly, and the strands of wire from as many of the boxes as is desired are led up through the gathering ring 6. lf, as is extremely common, the wire is to be fed up through a conduit the open end of which is at a height of seven or eight feet above the ground, the stand need only be wheeled to a place close by the open end of the conduit, and the electrician can then mount the steps 8, grasp the bundle of wires, and feed the bundle into the conduit. The bundle itself will consist of parallelly oriented strands, and each strand will feed out of its box with no danger of snarling or tangling. If the bundle is to be fed into a conduit which lies horizontally near the floor, the strand is merely rocked around its wheels until the handle 4 rests on the floor, and the bundle is pulled straight out of the gathering ring 6.

It can be seen that the steps 8 are spaced from the gathering ring 6 suiciently so that the user can manipulate the bundle of wires from the gathering ring while facing in the direction of the gathering ring.

It can also be seen that any number of strands, and even a single strand can he pulled through the gathering ring, depending upon what is needed for a particular circuit.

Numerous variations in the construction of the stand of this invention within the scope of the appended claims will occur to those skilled in the art in the light yof the foregoing disclosure. For example, the shape and construction of the racks can be varied to permit the use of a coil of wire which is not housed in a box. To that end the bottom of the rack can he made solid, and the upper flanges can be designed to ensure the proper eed ing of the wire and the retention of the coil. The exact forming of the tubular frame can also be varied, as long as the various essential elements are provided. The numbers of racks, the numbers of ranks of racks, the numbers of steps, the conguration of cross bracing and brackets are all capable of variation, and the suggested variations are merely illustrative.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1..A transportable manual wiring stand comprising a self-supporting frame,` a pair of wheels on one side of said frame and on substantially a common axis of rotation, a plurality of wire coil holding racks on said frame, each having a coil admitting end and a coil retaining end, said racks being sloped with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said wheel, with the coil retaining end of said racks oriented in a direction toward said wheel, and a gathering ring on said frame at a place remote from said Wheels and spaced from and vertically above the said racks.

2. The stand of claim 1 wherein a plurality of vertically extending ranks of said racks are mounted on said frame each rank being transversely spaced from each other rank, and each of the racks within each rank being vertically spaced from its vertically adjacent rack.

3. A transportable manual wiring stand comprising a self-supporting frame, a pair of wheels on one side of said frame and on substantially a common axis of rotation, a plurality of Wire coil holding racks on said frame, each having an open, coil admitting end and a closed, coil retaining end, said racks being sloped with respectl to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said wheels, with the closed end of said racks oriented in a direction toward said wheels, and a gathering ring on said frame at a place remote from said wheels and spaced from said racks in a direction away from said Wheels, stop -means on said frame on the same side of said frame as the said wheels are, spaced therefrom and stops means on the opposite side of said frame, whereby said frame can be utilized vertically or horizontally, the

rotation from one position to the other being about the axis of rotation of the wheels.

4. The stand of claim 3 wherein the stop means on the side opposite the wheels supports at least one step.

5. The stand of claim 4 wherein the stop means on the same side of the frame as the wheel is a handle, by which the frame may be manipulated..

6. A transportable manual wiring stand comprising a self-supporting frame, a pair of wheels mounted on one side near one end of said frame and on substantially a common axis of rotation, a plurality of wire coil-holding racks in a plurality of ranks, the ranks being spaced transversely fron one another and the racks in each rank being spaced vertically from the adjacent rack in its rank, each of said racks having an openwire coil-receiving end and a closed end and sides, said closed end and sides having wire coil-retaining flanges thereon, said racks being sloped with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the wheels, with the closed end of each rack oriented toward the said end of said frame on which said wheels are mounted; a gathering ring mounted on said frame at a place vertically remote from the end upon which the wheels are mounted and vertically spaced from and above the racks adjacent the ring, stop means on the side of the frame on which the wheels are mounted, said stop means constituting a handle by which the stand can be manipulated, stop means on the side 0f said frame opposite the side on which the wheels are mounted, and a plurality of steps mounted on said frame on the side of said frame opposite the side on which the wheels are mounted and spaced transversely from the gathering ring a distance suicient so that a person standing on said steps can manipulate wires extending from said coil racks through the gathering ring in front of him.

7. A transportable manual wiring stand comprising a self-supporting frame, a pair of Wheels mounted on one side near one end of said frame and on substantially a common axis of rotation, a plurality of wire coil-holding racks in a plurality of ranks, the ranks being spaced transversely from one another and the racks in each rank being spaced vertically from the adjacent rack in its rank, each of said racks having an open, wire coil-receiving end, a coil-supporting part and coil restraining means for preventing axial displacement of a coil from said rack; a gathering ring mounted on the frame at a place spaced from the racks in a direction away from said wheels, and a plurality of steps mounted on said frame on the side of the frame opposite the side on which the wheels are mounted and spaced transversely from the gathering ring.

8. A transportable manual wiring stand comprising a self-supporting frame; a gathering ring mounted on said frame, and a plurality of racks mounted on said frame in spaced relation to and vertically below said gathering ring, said racks being adapted to receive and retain coils of wire for delivery of said wire to and through said gathering ring, said racks being arranged in a plurality of ranks, the racks in each rank being spaced vertically from the adjacent rack in its rank and the racks in adjacent ranks being spaced transversely a distance suicient to admit between them strands of wire from coils in racks vertically beneath them, said racks in each rank being sloped downwardly in a direction toward racks in an adjacent rank.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 327,474 9/1885 Spalding 254-134.3 2,405,862 8/1946` Toomey 114-377 2,799,399 7/1957 Cannon 2li-49 X CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A TRANSPORTABLE MANUAL WIRING STAND COMPRISING A SELF-SUPPORTING FRAME, A PAIR OF WHEELS ON ONE SIDE OF SAID FRAME AND ON SUBSTANTIALLY A COMMON AXIS OF ROTATION, A PLURALITY OF WIRE COIL HOLDING RACKS ON SAID FRAME, EACH HAVING A COIL ADMITTING END AND A COIL RETAINING END, SAID RACKS BEING SLOPED WITH RESPECT TO A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THE AXIS OF ROTATION OF SAID WHEEL, WITH THE COIL RETAINING END OF SAID RACKS ORIENTED IN A DIRECTION TOWARD SAID WHEEL, AND A GATHERING RING ON SAID FRAME AT A PLACE REMOTE FROM SAID WHEELS AND SPACED FROM AND VERTICALLY ABOVE THE SAID RACKS. 